Middlings-purifier



(k0 mm;

J'. W. COLLINS.

Middlings Purifier.

Patented May 1880.

N-FEFEHS. PHOTOLITNOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D. C-

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN W. COLLINS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MIDDLINGS-PURIFIYER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 227,882, dated May 25, 1880.

Application filed March 10, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN W. (JoLLINs, of Chicago, in the Stateof Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Middlings-Purifiers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to devices for clearing the meshes of screens in middlings-purifiers.

It consists essentially in a shaft provided with a number of flexible cords attached thereto, as shown, arranged beneath the screen in such position relative thereto that the cords will act as heaters, striking the screen-cloth when the shaft is rotated, and combined with mechanism whereby the beatershaft is rotated, or simultaneously rotated and carried, from side to side or from end to end of the screen at suitable intervals.

Figure l of the drawings shows, in side elevation, a middlings-purifier provided with my improvements, illustrating more particularly the devices by which the beater-shaftis drawn from side to side beneath the screen. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the machine, showing the beaters at rest. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section thereof through the line y 3 of Figs 1 and 2-, and Fig. 4 is an end view of the beater-shaft and heaters in operation beneath a screen.

A is the frame of the purifier. S is a vibrating horizontal screen therein; and F is a beater-shaft, provided throughout its length with the flexible beaters B B. These heaters are preferably made of hemp or other substance having long flexible and tenacious fibers, with a view to softness and flexibility and to the retention of the individual fibers in the heaters in use. The shaft is supported at such a distance below the screen that the heaters will not be in contact with the screen when at rest, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

Any suitable mechanism may be employed to rotate the beatershaft and to carry the same from side to side of the screen, so as to operate upon all parts of its under surface alike.

In the drawings the shaft F is supported parallel with the screen by the cross-bars O C. It is carried from side to side by means of the cords 0, attached and operating as fo1- lows: At each end the shaft F is provided with the spindle f, turning freely in the loose plate 9. Each of said plates serves as an attachment for two of the cords 0, one running to each side of the machine and over suitable corner pulleys, p. The cords of one end also run forward at the side of the machine to the opposite end, and back over pulleys there located to the lever L, to which both cords that run to the same side are secured, as shown. The levers L, one on each side of the machine, are alternately worked to draw upon the cords thereto attached, and thus to draw the shaft F alternately from side to sideof the screenchamber by means of the wheels W, run from the fan-shaft, as indicated, and having pins it placed to successively engage the upper arms of said levers. When either lever is thrown by the pin a of the adjacent wheel W the opposite lever is drawn in the opposite direction by the connecting-cords, and is thus brought back into position to engage pin a on its proximate actuating-wheel W.

The rotating movement of the shaft F is shown to be obtained by means of stationary transverse cords c, passing above and once around the shaft near its ends and secured to opposite sides of the chamber in which the V shaft is situated. Being thus placed over the shaft F the cords 0 cause the shaft to rotate upward on its advanced side, whichever the direction of its bodily movement. By this means, and by predetermining the relative speeds of the several movements of the shaft, the drawing or sliding motion of the beaters upon the surface of the screens may be lessened or wholly-avoided, so as to obviate the destructive wearing action upon the screen characteristic of brushes used for this purpose.

It will also be observed that in the use of the flexible heaters described 'contact or noncontact of the heaters with the screen is not produced by change of position in the shaft, as in the case of a rotating brush, but by the changed position of the heaters themselves, due to centrifugal action in the rotation of the shaft.

The effect of the heaters, moreover, is to clear the meshes of the screen by a succession of soft blows, which gently vibrate the screencloth vertically, lifting out obstructing granules too large to pass, and therefore choking the meshes, and also dislodging accumulations of finer particles upon the under surface of said cloth.

By varying the size and motion of the wheels W the interval between the lateral movements of the beater may be varied at will.

Obviously other devices than those described may be employed to impart the requisite movement or movements to the shaft F, and the horizontal movement may be given to the screen instead of to the beater-shaft.

The number and distribution of the heaters B on the shaft F are preferably such that all parts of the screen-cloth will be directly and equally acted upon in the passage of the beaters beneath it.

The beaters may be made on or attached to a continuous heading, similar to fringe, and wound spirally upon the shaft, as imperfectly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

I do not herein broadly claim the combination of flexible beaters with a separating reel or bolt, as such device is also shown and appropriately claimed in another application for patent filed of even date herewith; but,

Having thus described my invention, I claim- In combination with the flat screen S of a purifier, the shaft F, provided with beaters B, sufficiently flexible to be thrown outward by centrifugal action when rotated and to hang from the shaft when at rest, and mechanism whereby said shaft is simultaneously rotated on its axis and moved from side to side or from end to end of the screen, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention 1 affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN W. COLLINS.

Witnesses:

M. E. DAYTON, WILLIAM M. STANLEY. 

